IS THE LAW THE PROBLEM?
Romans 7:7–13
Paul has just said something that could easily be misunderstood.
Christians have “died to the law through the body of Christ” (Romans 7:4).
Then he said:
“But now we are released from the law.”
— Romans 7:6
That raises an obvious question.
If we needed to be released from the Law, was there something wrong with the Law?
Paul asks the question himself:
“What then shall we say? That the law is sin?”
— Romans 7:7
His answer could hardly be stronger:
“By no means!”
The Law is not the problem.
So what is?
THE LAW REVEALED SIN
Paul continues:
“Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin.”
Then he gives an example:
“For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’”
Notice what Paul does not say.
He does not say the commandment created coveting.
The commandment identified it.
God's Law drew the line. It showed what was right and what was wrong.
The Law exposed sin for what it was.
WHICH LAW IS PAUL TALKING ABOUT?
Paul's example gives us an important clue.
He quotes:
“You shall not covet.”
That is one of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:17; Deuteronomy 5:21).
That is important.
Sometimes people read Paul's statements about being released from the Law and assume he is talking only about sacrifices, circumcision, food laws, feast days, or other regulations associated with the Mosaic covenant.
But Paul himself will not allow us to limit his words that way here.
When he gives an example of “the law,” he quotes directly from the Ten Commandments:
“You shall not covet.”
So whatever else Paul includes when he speaks of the Law, the Ten Commandments are not excluded from his discussion.
Paul himself includes them.
And remember what he has just said:
“You also have died to the law through the body of Christ.”
— Romans 7:4
and:
“But now we are released from the law.”
— Romans 7:6
But that does not mean Paul thinks the commandment was bad.
We will see exactly the opposite before this section is finished.
BUT SIN USED THE COMMANDMENT
Paul now identifies the real culprit:
“But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness.”
— Romans 7:8
Notice the subject.
Sin seized the opportunity.
The commandment was good.
But sin took advantage of the commandment.
We understand something of this even in ordinary life.
Put up a sign saying:
DO NOT TOUCH
and suddenly touching it becomes more interesting.
There is nothing wrong with the sign.
The problem is the desire to cross the boundary.
Paul's point is much more serious, but the illustration helps us see what he is saying.
God's commandment did not create the problem. It exposed the rebellious power of sin already at work.
“I WAS ONCE ALIVE APART FROM THE LAW”
Paul now says:
“I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died.”
— Romans 7:9
This is where we need to be careful.
Who exactly is the “I”?
When was Paul “alive apart from the law”?
What does he mean when he says the commandment “came”?
Those questions have produced several different explanations.
And Paul is going to use “I” repeatedly as this discussion continues.
So we should not settle the entire question from one sentence.
For now, Paul's main point is clear:
The commandment exposed sin, and sin brought death.
THE COMMANDMENT PROMISED LIFE
Paul continues:
“The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me.”
— Romans 7:10
Was the commandment designed to kill?
No.
The problem was what sin did with it.
Paul says:
“For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me.”
— Romans 7:11
Again, notice Paul's language.
He doesn't blame God.
He doesn't blame the commandment.
He blames sin.
Sin seized.
Sin deceived.
Sin killed.
SO WHAT DOES PAUL THINK ABOUT THE LAW?
Now Paul gives us his conclusion:
“So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.”
— Romans 7:12
That should keep us from making a serious mistake when reading Romans.
Paul has said that Christians are no longer under the Law.
He has said that we died to the Law.
He has said that we have been released from the Law.
And he has illustrated that Law by quoting one of the Ten Commandments.
But Paul has not said that the Law was evil.
Quite the opposite.
The Law is holy.
The commandment is holy.
It is righteous.
It is good.
Being released from the Law does not mean there was something wrong with God's Law.
The problem was never that God's commandment was sinful.
The problem was sin.
DID SOMETHING GOOD BRING DEATH?
Paul anticipates the next question:
“Did that which is good, then, bring death to me?”
— Romans 7:13
Again:
“By no means!”
What brought death?
Paul says:
“It was sin.”
And there was a purpose in sin being exposed this way:
“In order that sin might be shown to be sin.”
The Law didn't hide the disease.
It exposed it.
Through God's good commandment, sin was revealed for what it really was:
“Sinful beyond measure.”
DON'T CONFUSE THE LAW WITH SIN
This is the distinction Paul wants us to see.
The Law says what is right.
Sin rebels against what is right.
The Law exposes sin.
Sin uses even a good commandment as an opportunity for rebellion.
The Law is holy, righteous, and good.
The Law is not the villain in Paul's story.
Sin is.
READ PAUL BEFORE READING A SYSTEM INTO PAUL
Romans 7 is often pulled into larger arguments about the Law, salvation, and the Christian life.
But before entering those debates, notice Paul's own questions.
Is the Law sin?
Paul says:
No.
Did something good produce death?
Paul says:
No.
And when Paul wants an example of the Law he is discussing, what does he quote?
One of the Ten Commandments:
“You shall not covet.”
We don't have to decide what Paul means by “Law” according to somebody else's theological system.
Paul has given us an example himself.
That is exactly the kind of observation we are trying to learn to make:
Read the text first.
BEFORE YOU LEAVE
Ask four questions directly from the passage:
What revealed sin?
The Law.
What commandment does Paul use as his example?
“You shall not covet” — one of the Ten Commandments.
What brought death?
Sin.
How does Paul describe God's Law?
Holy, righteous, and good.
That prepares us for what comes next.
Paul is about to say:
“For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin.”
— Romans 7:14
Then the language becomes intensely personal:
“I do not understand my own actions.”
“I do not do what I want.”
“I do the very thing I hate.”
Who is this “I”?
Rather than beginning with somebody's theological answer, we'll continue doing what we've been doing throughout Romans:
Follow Paul's argument and let Paul explain Paul.
TEXT B4 TRADITION
Read First. Conclude Later.
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